Founded in 1884, the Department of Horticulture and Entomology was one of the original departments organized for Purdue University’s School of Agriculture. Entomology became a separate department in 1920 and offered its first baccalaureate program eight years later. Entomology conferred its first PhD in 1942. The department experienced impressive growth in the 1940s and 1950s, appointing its first Agricultural Extension entomologist and holding its first urban pest control conference in 1936, establishing an undergraduate structural pest control curriculum (the first in the United States) in 1946, and adding 18 new academic positions under John V. Osmun’s leadership. Osmun succeeded J.J. Davis in 1956. Davis’s tenure as department head stretched from 1922 to 1956. Appointed in 1972, Eldon E. Ortman expanded Purdue Entomology research and extension beyond U.S. borders and expanded and enhanced the department’s computer capabilities and physical facilities. Ortman served eighteen years as the head of the Entomology Department. His successor, Christian Y. Oseto oversaw the expansion of interdisciplinary outreach, the creation of Bug Bowl, and the growth of Entomology’s international programs. Steve Yaninek replaced Oseto as department head in 2000. More information about the Department of Entomology’s history can be found at the below link. Author: John Michael Foster

Scope and Contents: The College of Agriculture, Department of Entomology, Records (1931-1993; 1.4 cubic feet) consists of correspondence (1940-1949), Experiment Station Reports (1931-1945), and other materials (circa 1930s-1990s) documenting the history, administration, and activities of the entomology program at Purdue University.